The Winter Court of the Insane, Philosophical Ladybug

So browsing through things on Netflix Streaming eventually led to me discovering that they have a little bit of Inuyasha. Almost all my anime-loving friends watched it, but I never did for various reasons (including no access, heh). So I decided to try a little and see what I thought. I remembered years ago occasionally seeing the dub at Media Play and not being too impressed with the voice work.

I have a lot of mixed feelings. I love the Feudal Japan setting and the emphasis on Japanese folklore and myths! I am fascinated by Japanese culture and that's just up my alley. I don't like most of Kagome's "Sit!" commands. (I'm told the anime really overused it instead of only doing it when it was deserved or needed, like the manga did.) I'd forgotten about that flea thing, which years ago was one of the reasons why I wasn't interested. (The "Sit" thing was another.) I found both the flea and Sesshoumaru's toad helper rather WTH, and I think I saw episode 6 with them at Media Play and they were a large part of why I went "WTH is this ... no thank you." I seem to distinctly remember seeing the scene of the flea biting Kagome to wake her up, and various scenes with the toad whining, and the whole fight about the sword and Kagome ending up being the one to pull it out. I do love how Inuyasha and Kagome both have a ton of character development throughout the series and come to genuinely love each other.

I also love the second ending song, and the (slightly altered) line which I realized fit Nesbitt beautifully and led to me making this icon.

I'll probably keep sampling it here and there, but I don't know that it will ever be a big favorite of mine.

On the other hand, I also finally tried We Bare Bears and it's just adorable! It's so nice to see such a cute, happy cartoon. It's filled with friendship and familial squee and amusing adventures. I always went WTH at the grammatically incorrect and slightly eyebrow-raising title and didn't expect much from it, but it's so sweet and pure. I adore it!

For months I've had a story partially written where Johnson is assaulted by his former secretary, but I've always waffled on finishing and posting it. I finally got the inspiration to do so when Crystal told me about an episode of Perfect Strangers that addressed the topic that men can be (and are) sexually assaulted too. I feel it's important for that to be brought out, and I got the fic up after writing all the rest of it out. I'm glad it's up, but super worn-out from writing such a heavy fic. I also just came from writing that one about Noa's death too. I want cute and fluffy stuff now. And maybe a nice, gently spooky Halloween fic.

Rockapella is finally going to be here again! And it's reserved seating, gah. Having a time of it figuring out how my friend and I are going to get tickets before all the best seats are taken.... I can't get them right now, and if anyone gets them online there's that annoying extra fee.

I had a $5 promo code from QVC I wanted to use, so I've been on the look-out for anything I might like to buy. A couple of weeks ago a purple penguin plush caught my eye and I got that. I also discovered I had another $5 credit in my account, so I got $10 off! I'm also doing Easy Pay. There are a lot of lovely things I wish I could get from QVC, but I have to restrain myself even though Easy Pay makes it so tempting. My penguin arrived Wednesday and I decided he's the brother of my blue penguin plush Richard, lol. I always liked penguins; two penguin plushies were among my favorite childhood plushies. Crump being so nuts about them makes me take a lot of stock in them again.

And I did that character quiz yet again, this time for Nesbitt: http://meromeroyui.deviantart.com

On the 2nd we went to an open house. They've been building ten new houses near us and they allowed everyone to tour them before the families moved in. It's a company called Self-Help Homes; I think the deal is that whoever is moving in does a lot of the building themselves. It was mentioned that food would be provided, but not what. I looked up what's usually served at real estate open houses and turned up cake, so that's all I was expecting and wasn't surprised when we got there and found some. We didn't make it in time for the opening ceremonies, though, so it was probably announced there that they'd be serving an actual dinner after the house tours. While we were touring, I saw that getting set up and heard some of the other people talking about that. It was awesome to get dinner, especially after 90 minutes of walking! A hamburger with cheese, a hot dog, all kinds of toppings, Doritos, ice water, and giant chocolate chip cookies! Yuuuum!

The houses were all gorgeous. My favorite ones had huge bathrooms with the toilets off to themselves in nooks. One house even had a giant walk-in closet with a light off the bathroom! It was epic.

The weird thing is, while we were touring I kept having intense Sonic the Hedgehog nostalgia and thinking about getting that Amy Rose plush. Something about the touring or the houses or the time of day or the way the sun was coming in or all of the above was making me remember something Sonic-related, but I couldn't remember what and I still can't. It may have been a memory of around ten years ago when I was on a big Sonic kick in late summer. Or it could be a memory of when I got my first Sonic game set in July 2001, but that was a cloudy day, so I don't think so. In any case, it was very nice but also very strange. Maybe it was a memory of being into Sonic while taking those driving classes years ago, but I don't know what new houses would have to do with that. I don't know what new houses have to do with any of my Sonic memories, honestly. LOL. Maybe being on a Sonic kick and listening to the Sonic Adventure 2 soundtrack on our way to my childhood friend's wedding reception in her big backyard? I don't know. Maybe it's even as simple as the new houses being for families, and that reminding me of when I was a kid and just newly getting enthused with Sonic. It wouldn't explain the specific Amy Rose association, though. Then there's the thought that maybe I was associating the houses with anime, like Sailor Moon, and thinking about those characters' families, and how I got into anime in summer, and thinking of Sonic since it's also a Japanese property and I have many summer memories of Sonic....

I did finally get my gift card and order the Amy plush, and I got the last one. I was worried wondering if there was really one left or if I'd get a message that she wasn't available after all, but she was there and shipped and I got her the day before I needed to cancel the Prime trial, the 11th. She's so cute, and gorgeous, and so soft! Her dress is soft too. It's so hilarious that I would actually end up wanting an Amy plush, but realizing she didn't act out nearly as much as I'd thought really helped, because she was so cute and sweet in the episodes I was watching, and tough when she needed to be (not when she didn't need to be). I also like that sometimes she's kind of a voice of reason; when Knuckles flips out she usually stays logical. (Of course, then sometimes she's illogical herself at other times, heh. But I guess she's a pretty well-rounded character.) I love characters who are voices of reason; that's one reason why I love Gansley so much. (And I love Marc Thompson's voice for him in season 3; I could listen to that for ages. Help, I have a crush on a 60-year-old man (who isn't someone I've watched in stuff at various ages)! How did that even happen? Lol. I keep remembering this Charlie's Angels episode where Sabrina has a crush on a 60-year-old man because she loves his intelligence, and Jill and Kelly keep giggling about it. Of course, I certainly don't like the way Gansley acts with Yugi and Atem in their duel, but what I don't think people tend to realize is that if I write for a character for a long time, sometimes I end up falling in love with the version of them that I'm writing. Gansley is repentant in my post-canon verse, and combining that with his voice and being one of the logical ones of the group, well ... squeee. (And I think his "happy" sprite in Nightmare Troubadour is adorable.) Same thing with Nesbitt, minus him being one of the logical ones, lol. But I really love the way I've developed him in my post-canon verse. It's really those versions I'm crushing on, not what we see in canon where they're displaying such repugnant behavior ... although I do feel sorry for Nesbitt, especially considering his backstory in the original Japanese, and of course I love Gansley's canonical logical behavior trying to look after the others. Team Dad Gansley is adorable both in canon and in my verse, I have to say. Johnson doesn't seem to have any good qualities in canon unless he cares about the others, and Crump is so repulsive with his dirty-minded behavior towards Tea and Serenity in the original Japanese. The dub thankfully removes that, but he's still repulsively sadistic and I really don't have a lot of sympathy for him in either version. I do like the versions of him and Johnson I write for, though. I didn't think anyone except Lector was even deserving of a second chance until I re-watched the episodes enough to pick up nuances and realized that they seemed to care about each other. Then I really wanted to save them all.)

I was worried wondering if they'd even get any more Amy plushies in, as then it was saying "Unavailable. We don't know if or when this item will be back in stock." But I checked again and it said she'd be back in stock this week, so that's good. I have never seen something like this. All of these Sonic plushies are so popular and in demand, and they keep flying off the shelves almost as fast as Amazon can put them back! That should tell Sega that people still want quality Sonic merchandise. It's so hard to find Sonic stuff in stores right now and it's so frustrating. I love that I was able to get a shirt at ShopKo before they closed. I still feel a little sad that I didn't get another one I saw, but I didn't have much money and it was white and long-sleeved. I don't really like white for shirts because it gets dirty so fast, and I only wear long sleeves in public and in cooler weather, so I figured that shirt might not even get much use for a while. It was definitely more practical not to get it, but I still feel a little sad, especially when it's so very hard to find Sonic stuff.

I have to admit, in spite of the silly rivalry with Mario, it seems to me like Mario is clearly the winner in merchandise and almost always has been. There was a time when Sonic figures were around and more interesting than Nintendo figures, though, but that's long past. And there's a book about Mario that's readily available, while The History of Sonic book was never easily obtainable and went out of print before I could save up enough to get it. Sigh. I miss the days when Sonic stuff was easier to get and so plentiful. Even though the non-Boom ban is over, it seems like companies aren't getting back on track very quickly. Boom really ruined the merchandise scene and it's never recovered.

Then I have the problem that I love these Sonic plushies so much that I ... really want the actual Sonic one. The thought of petting a Sonic with minky-like fur just sounds glorious. But I think I'd feel more guilty getting another Sonic plush than I would for almost any other character, because my classic Sonic plush was such a close companion of mine as a kid, probably my favorite Christmas gift ever, and I never really wanted another Sonic plush because I was so happy with him. I know the plush isn't really alive, but it's really hard to think in logical terms like that, especially for someone sentimental like me who kind of wonders if the inner life idea could be true. Plushies and figures and dolls are alive to me, because in Jessie from Toy Story's words, "that's how they [the kids] see you [the toys]." I try to rationalize it by saying I have classic Sonic and why not get modern Sonic; they're different so it's not a betrayal of the classic plush; it would be nice to have a Sonic without felt spikes, etc. We'll see which side of my mind wins out.

The 4th was ... probably about the worst holiday I've ever spent. As a normal day it was okay, but as a holiday it was really lame. Two wonderful things happened, though: I reached the Big Five arc in my game that day and I got to role-play with Crystal. After that, the day went downhill and didn't stop. We didn't do anything as a family to celebrate and I wasn't even able to get a pizza. (I did finally get one next week after the Scottish Festival, though.)

The Festival was fun and we got to see the band The Fire again, which was awesome. I was a little sad they didn't do a full hour concert like they usually do (it was 45 minutes instead), but I guess they were worn-out from the heat. It was so hot, ugh. Although I don't think it was as bad as last year, where it was so stuffy it was hard to even breathe.

I wanted to find a pendant with a purple gem or rock so I could think of the amethyst ring I gave Lector in my fics, but I couldn't find anything like that. The jewelry shop I like so much didn't come this year, for some reason. The new store I liked so much last year was back, though, and they had some raw amethyst samples that were really tempting. But I really wanted something to wear and I didn't have much money, so I ended up not getting one of those.

It has been a really busy month. Most of this past week has been taken up with preparations for my sister getting re-married, and then the wedding was on Friday. Outside. In 97 degree temperatures. GAH. But at least it was at a beautiful place and there was some shade. The reception was pretty awesome. Most receptions around here only do dessert, but they did a meal! Cheese sandwiches and crackers and cheese squares and potato rolls and punch and nuts and M&M's and vegetable trays and gigantic pieces of cake ... ! Paradise! And on the way home I found the My Little Pony Bubbles at Target! This is G1 Bubbles, not G4 Bubbles. This Bubbles is yellow with blue hair, one of the two sitting down Ponies. I've wanted her for a long time. I hope I can find her friend Seashell too, because it would be too sad not to have her BFF. Plus, she's also really pretty, lavender with turquoise hair.

This week may be busy too; I'm desperately hoping we can have fun on our local holiday, especially since the 4th was such a bust as far as doing fun family things to celebrate.

And I finally beat the Nightmare Troubadour game, after many struggles against Yami Marik! I have to admit I oddly enough didn't have too much trouble with the other odd or difficult duels in the game. No one else really seemed to be on Yami Marik's level. I kept getting trounced to the point of utter frustration and aggravation, especially since I thought he was the final barrier keeping me from getting back to the Big Five. Finally some Internet searches brought up some advice and a gameplay video with good strategies I was able to use and I beat him. It was especially hard because I had to defeat him with Obelisk, and he kept destroying my monsters before I could get him on the field, and occasionally when I did get him on the field, Yami Marik did something else to make me lose, like play Ring of Destruction after already whittling down my lifepoints with Lava Golem.

Then when I finally beat Yami Marik, I found I wasn't at level 20 and I had to be at level 20 to see the Big Five again. I was just barely at 19. So there was some frantic dueling to level up, and occasionally a Rare Hunter or Yami Bakura showed up and screwed up my EXP. I love Yami Bakura and any other time I would have been happy to see him, but not when he ruined the EXP I'd got from Seto by causing me to lose before I'd saved again. He showed up a couple of other times and I beat him those times, so then he helped me get EXP. (I don't get any when I lose.)

It's been a delight to play against the Big Five again! I don't like that apparently I can only duel them in a row and have to start over if I lose to any of them, but at least I get to see them again in some way. I don't like that the game made it sound like they're possibly holographic projections, but I'll just insist they're real and this is their new job, lol.

I'm finally wrapping up my multi-chapter fic. I ended up feeling really badly for Pegasus, as through this fic and other ones of mine, he's seen or heard about characters getting second chances and yet he can't have Cecelia back. I don't even like Pegasus that much (mainly because of how flippant he acted about all the horrible things he did, even after he supposedly repented), but I felt like I was slapping him in the face and it just didn't seem fair, like that everyone is allowed back except Cecelia. (Of course, there are other characters who stay dead, but I don't think any case other than Cecelia's involves a loved one so unable to deal with the death as Pegasus is.) So I've set up a situation where Shadi's taking him on a quest that may bring Cecelia back. I was going to end the epilogue with them reuniting, but now I wonder if I should leave things with him on the quest and possibly have the next fic with more of the cast ending up on the quest too and having that be an adventure fic. Maybe it should be the one I've wanted to do for so long with the Big Five having to take Capsule Monsters trials. I'll think about it. That could take focus away from Pegasus, but I'm really not sure I could write a fic with him as a central character. It took me years to finish Until You Find Answers, mainly because I couldn't get into Pegasus's mind and was dreading his chapter so much.

It's been a strange month. Most of the rest of May was filled with misery. I thought I'd recorded this past misadventure somewhere, but I can't find it. About nine, ten years ago or maybe even more, I got in a way where I couldn't look at screen for very long and I'd have to take long breaks of just closing my eyes and resting them. Back then, simple reading glasses fixed it. This May, it hit me again and, after remembering when I had the problem before and that it was probably my eyes again, I tried the same solution. But stronger yet still simple readers wouldn't fix it. After a good eye exam, I was given a prescription for special reading glasses. They cost over $100, gah. But they have certainly helped! The first day I had them, I used them for a little bit and they definitely healed the trouble. I've been able to go about things mostly normally since then.

(However, my Amazon tablet seems to hurt my eyes more than my black tablet does. WTH. I thought it was my imagination at first, but now I have the glasses and the same thing happens on the Amazon tablet even with them, while I'm fine on the black tablet. Ugh. There's another solution or two I can try for the Amazon tablet that Ladyamberjo showed me, but if those don't work I'm not sure what to do. I hate to think I won't be able to use that tablet anymore.)

I decided the Nintendo 2DS was what I wanted most, shopping-wise, and another version became available, the one with Mario Maker. I got that and have been having fun with it. I also bought a couple of Sonic games in the eShop, the Game Gear ones with Nack the Weasel! Squeeee. And I finally got a good copy of Nightmare Troubadour using another Amazon gift card. I've been playing it this past week. Still haven't got to the juicy Big Five or Rare Hunter stuff yet, but I'm desperately hoping it's almost time. More duelists are gradually showing up, so surely we're about to get into the real plot.

Having the gaming system has sent me tripping through most of the game series I've had an interest in through the years. I've been bouncing back and forth between Sonic and Megaman, especially. I couldn't find any Megaman games I wanted that were compatible with my system, but I decided to look for a ROM of Megaman and Bass, which I wanted so desperately before. It hasn't been re-released and is out of print, so I felt a ROM was justified. I've been playing it and greatly enjoying it! I love playing as Bass, which was my dream years ago.

Finding a Megaman DVD at Dollar Tree fueled the Megaman kick this week. I was thrilled! Now I'm trying to find the one I wanted so badly for years, which is unfortunately one of the hardest discs to get, sigh. But I may be able to get one. We'll see.

(I also found a Full Moon wo Sagashite disc there! Squeeee. I don't think they ever finished releasing it in the West, sadly. Such a sweet series. I wanted to grab that up the instant I saw it there. I hope it's bilingual, as I prefer it in Japanese.)

I've also been bouncing back and forth between the .EXE and Classic branches of Megaman. I like both Basses for different reasons. The .EXE ones usually have tragic backstories, but are very dark. The Classic Bass isn't as dark, but also seems shallow in his obsession with defeating Megaman. Yet he has intriguing moments, like how he respects humans for creating robots instead of thinking he's superior to humans (although he thinks he's superior to other robots, heh). I also finally found a Bass plush. When I saw Megaman plushies at Barnes and Noble a while back, I looked for Bass but didn't see him. Great Eastern has released one now, and even though it's somewhat chibi-ish, I decided to get it since it seems to be the only Bass plushie made.

I remember someone who was reading my few Megaman fics didn't like me having Classic Bass end up sacrificing himself trying to save Megaman. Something about him being interesting enough without having to do that? I didn't really grasp it at the time, but older and more tired and cynical me gets it. I still love my hurt/comfort and self-sacrifice, though. And of course, I planned for Bass to be brought back, even though I stalled on the sequel. I did go in the fic and alter a few things, as I realized I made it sound like Bass deliberately let himself die when pushing Megaman to safety. I changed it so it's clear that he's trying to get out too, but just didn't make it.

(Also, if I ever continue the .EXE stories I was doing, I'll have Bass survive his sacrifice there. I found a blurb I wrote where he survived and Dr. Cossack, the man who created him and thinks of him as a son, finds him badly injured and brings him back with him. This was a verse where the NetNavis were released into the real world.)

Someone suggested I write a crossover fic with Megaman and the 87 Ninja Turtles several weeks ago. I've been gradually putting things together since then, and this past week a lot more pieces fell into place. I had considered redoing one of the old Classic fics, but instead I decided I want the crossover to be in the same verse as those fics. I have a scene where Megaman tells the Turtles and company the events of those fics. It serves as some closure for me, since I will likely never figure out how to finish the sequel but now at least I can know things got resolved. It also means I'll have to figure out a different climax for the fic. I would like some hurt/comfort, naturally, but it won't be extreme hurt/comfort since it takes place in a verse where there was already extreme hurt/comfort in the past.... Or at least, that's the plan. On the other hand, maybe I'll find a way for a major hurt/comfort scene anyway, like Bass taking down some villain who was trying to destroy the world and they think Bass bought it too (although of course he'd turn up okay). I do find it intriguing that Bass rebels against Wily so often and fights against many of his schemes. Very different from the .EXE Bass, who hates humans (understandably, given his backstory in the games and manga versions). And I found the comments Duo made about Bass having goodness and justice energy, and I remember that was a large part of what inspired me to write Bass as I did. I don't think they would have included that in canon if they hadn't wanted people to figure Bass really is good deep down.

I can't figure out why I didn't collect the last four volumes of the .EXE manga, either. Did they just not come out on schedule? I need to get them in any case, maybe with my next Amazon gift card. There's a lot more Bass in them, and had I known that in the past, I would have been all over them. I tried to get everything I could with Bass. I've been really kicking myself that I didn't get the DVD I wanted so much the one time I saw it in a store. I think at that time I couldn't spare the money and I thought I'd have other chances to get it, but then I never did. Sigh.

I also still want a Shadow the Hedgehog plush that's 12 inches or taller and furry. I found out about the 12-inch Tomy Shadow, which looks really good and is also really rare, apparently. I never saw him in stores at all. And he's not even featured on Sonic Gear! I'm watching some listings for him and hope to pick one of those up, but I really need to wait for another Amazon gift card.

I was on dA last night, looking for Bass and Shadow art. I was kind of sad to see that it looks like a lot of people still think of and like Shadow as a villain. I would think that by now he's proved himself several times over that he's one of the good guys, even though he's an antihero!

(And yeah, I know one argument is that in the Shadow the Hedgehog game, the gimmick was "Hero or villain? You decide" and there were several different possible endings you could choose for him, based on what you wanted. Although I realized that even if you fiddled around with that, the only true ending of the game and the one that's considered canon, is where Shadow is heroic.)

Bass and Shadow have some interesting similarities, especially .EXE Bass and Shadow with their tragic backstories. Shadow's the better character, though, I think. And meanwhile, Classic Bass reminds me a lot of Seto, but again, I think Seto is a more well-rounded character. But I still love Bass too.

I finally finished a silly picture I drew of Nesbitt and Espio glaring suspiciously at each other, since David Wills plays them both: http://meromeroyui.deviantart.com

And Side7 has been down for days. I am not pleased, since my old art is up there. I still can't find the folder I have with the hard copies of the really old stuff, so Side7 was my only way to look at some of it. Plus, now I'll have to think about posting a lot of those things on dA if Side7 is down for good this time, like all the sketches and color pics I drew for YGO around 2009-2010. That sounds exhausting.

You know, I think Monk is a very polarizing show. Episodes are either extremely good or extremely bad; there is no in-between.

I forgot I didn't like Mr. Monk Fights City Hall and we ended up watching it last night. The councilwoman's aide really was kind of a dolt, but Mr. Monk was a jerk to her during the reveal of the bad guy scene. What's sad, though, is that he just doesn't have good people skills and honestly didn't even stop to think about what he was saying until it was too late. And of course, she was indignant and decided to change her vote about helping him keep the parking lot where Trudy died instead of voting to tear it down. And all of that was played for laughs, like "Ha Ha, Mr. Monk is such a jerk, now he gets what he deserves," and yet then the epilogue immediately following is serious and sad as he looks at the spot where Trudy died and then leaves the parking lot with Natalie (and at least we see the new playground will be named for Trudy). But seriously, the tone shift doesn't work. First we're supposed to laugh at him and feel like he deserves what he's getting, then in the next instant we're supposed to feel sad for him that he's losing something so dear to him because of a split-second slip-up? Not to mention, first it's supposed to be funny that he loses the parking garage and then it isn't? Make up your minds, people! It doesn't work both ways.

It's amazing how well M*A*S*H and other old shows worked as comedy-dramas. Sometimes I really don't think Monk grasps how to do it properly. But then we see a great episode like Mr. Monk is Underwater and it becomes clear that the writers do know how to do it (although I do question them deciding to use Monk's coping mechanism of pretending Dr. Bell is there as something humorous, but at least there it was a more gentle humor and not played nasty). Perhaps some writers get it and some don't. Or sometimes a good writer has an off-day. In any case, ugh, I detest episodes like the city hall one.

Then I ponder on the psychiatrist question. I loved Dr. Bell from the moment I saw him years ago, but the more I re-watch his episodes, the more I wonder if I actually like him more than Dr. Kroger. It really seems like Dr. Bell is more personable and friendly and maybe actually likes Monk better than Dr. Kroger did. But I suppose it's just different personalities and different methods; Dr. Kroger had some really poignant scenes, like the one where he tells Monk that he would never write in a file that a patient is beyond hope; he always believes there's hope. I do really like that they write the characters differently so Dr. Bell isn't just a carbon copy of Dr. Kroger.

And I'd forgotten how nasty Natalie was in her very first episodes, especially that crack about Monk being the Prince of Darkness because murder always finds him. I don't even think Sharona would have said something like that in her worst moments. I'm really glad they decided not to make Natalie nastier than Sharona and instead decided to make her less abrasive.

On Thursday I finally got to go see about a gift certificate I had for Build a Bear. It expires next week, but I wanted to go this week because there was a sale I wanted to use with my certificate. I got this gorgeous blue bear for $10 on the sale, and that was the exact amount of my certificate, so I didn't have to pay anything. LOL. It's the bear they designed based on Thomas the Tank Engine; I've wanted it since I first got the announcement about its release. I just adore all shades of blue! Then I found that Target had finally got in the new wave of the retro My Little Pony re-releases and I brought home the pink Twilight (who was a partial inspiration for Twilight Sparkle, and as it is, Twilight Sparkle's mother is designed similar to Twilight). I have been so happy to have Twilight, more than I even thought I would be, and I think I figured out why. She looks very similar to a Pony called Milky Way, only in person Milky Way isn't the color she is in the pictures, and as a kid all I had were the pictures and I dreamed desperately of owning that Pony. I think she was my second biggest grail after Sugarberry. When I finally got Milky Way, I loved her dearly, but was a little sad she didn't look exactly like the pictures in shade of pink. Twilight does, and I think that woke up the little kid in me who wanted the Pony who looked like that. I am just squeeing all over to have her. I set her on the desktop monitor that's behind the laptop, so I can look at her constantly while at the computer. I'm so glad I didn't buy that original Twilight years ago with the loose washer rolling around inside her. I never wanted to buy a Pony in that condition, but I waffled on that because it was a good price and since I'd already expressed interest in her, but I was relieved to not have to go through with the sale when I learned about the loose washer. It is sooo much better to be able to buy the 1980s Ponies new! I hope the releases will keep coming.

(LOL, I still haven't switched back to the desktop once since getting my external DVD-ROM for the laptop. I've meant to, and I need to in order to watch movies since the laptop doesn't have enough power for the external to run on for anything that takes a lot of memory like a movie, but I just far prefer using the laptop and I haven't been able to make myself switch since the external runs good enough for TV show episodes, which is what I usually want to watch.)

Dad got a phone upgrade thanks to a friend, and I inherited the old phone. I have a Smartphone for the first time, lol. Last year I kept trying to figure out about getting a phone so I could play Duel Links and finally determined that phone shopping was a headache because of how expensive they tend to be and having to lock them to a provider and that getting a tablet compatible with Duel Links would be better and cheaper (which it was). I definitely don't think I'd want to play Duel Links on a phone. The screen would be too small.

Smartphones confuse the heck out of me. I was always baffled by the phone when Dad had me use it for one reason or another. Now that it's mine, I have to keep looking up things on the Internet for tasks like deleting pictures, as it's not the same as on a tablet. I think I'm figuring it out at last, though. I have a YGO ringtone and wallpaper, which delights me. One of the things I thought would be the most fun about owning a Smartphone would be having a custom ringtone of something I really loved. The ringtone is part of the English YGO opening. I also think I'll want a case for the phone. I told Dad he should get one, but he never did. I wish I could find a cute custom case for the phone with a picture of something I love, but that's not looking too likely.

I have Gansley's and Nesbitt's shirts done. Crump's is cut out, and I may get a chance to work on it tonight. I also wanted to make a Marik plush and I got a base this week, but I can't find material to make the hair. The only thing I liked was almost $10 a yard, and even though I wouldn't want that much, I'd want enough that the price would likely be more than I'd feel I could pay right now. Maybe I'd better just make Serenity or David instead, since I still have the materials here for them. Of course, first priority is to finish the Big Four's shirts. I do think I'll want to make suitcoats too, but I may or may not wait a bit on that. So many sleeves....

Then I have the problem that I've been getting the urge to get that Marik figure by Kotobukiya. It's so gorgeous! And expensive, sigh. Oh, if I'd only known about those when they first came out. It's amazing I could get my Yami Bakura figure. I doubt I'd ever be able to get another, but I'm longing so much for Marik that I'm looking for a way to make it work. One option would be earning gift cards for Amazon and buying him there, but it will take a while to gather enough, and I'm not sure they're going to keep having him. At least if I never can make it work, I have both of the Marik figures Mattel made back in the day, and love them dearly.

I'm almost finished with my twisted kidnap fic; it was always meant to be short. I think one more chapter should wrap it up. I ended up doing a lesser mind-screw where Lector is sometimes not sure whether he's been mutilated or not and only imagining he's whole. The fic seems to be largely about Lector and Mokuba interaction, as I wasn't always sure what to write for the Big Four after just doing a lot of them agonizing over things in the New Orleans fic. I think I have some good scenes with them here, though.

Next, it's on to the Manga Yami Bakura fic, and I'm going to do the Bendy and the Ink Machine stuff in it, thanks to an intriguing dream I had about Gansley and Nesbitt working for the bad guys in that and Gansley not being able to bear killing the others when the time comes, so he sacrifices himself for Lector instead. In the fic, Gansley will be brainwashed and Nesbitt joins undercover trying to break through the mind-control. Gansley will still sacrifice himself for Lector, but the act will save him, much to Manga Yami Bakura's consternation. I also think I may not reveal immediately who he is; I think I'll do a prologue that's vague about him falling through dimensions, and then the story proper will open with everyone waking up in a life-size game world. So they're trying to get out and trying to figure out who the Game Master is.

Even though I've had the climax of my current fic ready for a while, it just hasn't felt right. Sunday morning I finally realized what was wrong and how to fix it. The climax went from being seriously ludicrous to seriously beautiful. I just adore it now! I did cringe a bit that I felt I couldn't split it up and had to post its 17-page self (eeek!) all in one gulp. Hopefully it will be so entertaining that people won't notice the length. I also decided that the next chapter, where they have to solve the other of the two mysteries, needed more stuff, which I'm putting into it now.

One thing I really want to do in the New Orleans fic is a scene based on this awesomely creepy scene in a Hardy Boys two-parter called Voodoo Doll. The boys end up at this voodoo ceremony and are tricked into believing that voodoo is killing them, gah. (They're really just being chloroformed.) They wake up laying in open coffins in a cemetery while a band plays When the Saints Go Marching In. The coffins even have their names on them! It's probably my favorite scene in the episode. I'm thinking something similar happens to some of the YGO characters, probably Joey, Tristan, and Bakura. And I must keep the creepy lady calling, "Where are the children?" at the ceremony. For the fic, I think I'll either leave it up in the air as to whether it's really voodoo or I'll say it is, rather than chloroform. But it's still just a knockout tactic meant to seriously scare them. Everyone else is panicking looking for them all night, including the Big Five. Events in the current fic seem to indicate that they will be considered part of the group by the end.

One thing I have to be sure of is to have good voodoo and bad voodoo people, and to emphasize that only corrupt people are going to use it for evil purposes. And I need to restudy the differences between vodun and hoodoo; I suppose most of what I want to do is more hoodoo. I haven't looked that up since I was writing for Mignon Germaine, so probably about seven years or so.

I've also been preparing with atmospheric media. I have a wonderful Nancy Drew game set in New Orleans that I've been enjoying. And I was given $5 in Kindle credit and got several books with it since I have the Kindle app on my Fire Tablet. One was a Nancy Drew parody set in New Orleans.

I am so frustrated with that book. It started out kind of adorable, with the characters really the Nancy Drew characters in everything but names, and even then, the main character is still Nancy (with a surname of Keane, ha ha). And Bess is still Elizabeth, but called Beth. George is called Hannah. I guess that was just a way to keep Hannah Gruen remembered, since she doesn't have a counterpart in the story. Otherwise, it would have made more sense to call George Georgia or something. So anyway, it starts out cute, and definitely is like a Nancy Drew book, just with Nancy's abilities being stretched more to slightly WTH levels. There was some nice New Orleans atmospheric goings-on. And I was slightly amused by turning some tropes on their heads, like instead of the girls meeting strange boys who are really nice, they meet some who aren't and have to flee.

But what I didn't like was that the more I got into the book, the more it seemed to emphasize the naughty side of the city and the characters and often seemed to have passages and adventures that were clearly there for no other reason than to be adult. What's more, even though the book is called The Ghost in the Plantation, they've barely visited the plantation or the ghost. A real Nancy Drew book totally would have that plantation as a main setting! There's really not much voodoo content even though it looked like there might be some, and I'm getting sick of Nancy and other characters taking the Lord's name in vain. Plus, it's mostly devolved into chasing down corporate creeps who are after oil and getting very technical and it feels like it could be set anywhere. It is so aggravating. I only got the thing for the New Orleans setting, and honestly, the only thing I can really take away from it to help my fic is for Lector to warn the kids not to go to Bourbon Street.

It says in the summary that it's written for Baby Boomers who fondly remember the Nancy Drew books. Honestly, if they love the Nancy Drew books so much, chances are that they would like to see a book that's like the Nancy Drew books instead of having all of this unnecessary adult junk thrown in. The great thing about Nancy Drew books is that they're clean!

By contrast, the real Nancy Drew in my game brings everything I wanted for the New Orleans atmosphere: a creepy house, a huge cemetery, a voodoo shop, weird stuff going on.... I am so in love with this game. And also stumped; I'll probably have to get out a walkthrough. I generally have to at some point with these games. I always go as far as I can on my own at first, which may or may not be far depending on the difficulty of the game. (And I'm playing at the easier level, oy.) I'm not very good at puzzle games, but I love them.

Then tonight I watched a really intense Mod Squad episode about a kidnapping and I decided I am still going to do that story about Gansley, but I will probably have it known as a kidnapping outright instead of Portman trying to make the others think Gansley is dead. They'll have to try to get the ransom together and be agonizing over whether the crooks will kill Gansley anyway. And I'll still keep Gansley giving his captors Hell, because of course you know he would. **snerk.** I love him. Although naturally I don't love him being so sadistic with Atem and Yugi in canon; that was disgusting. But it will help with characterization for this fic; he can put that sadistic streak to good use.

I started wondering what would happen if Gansley ever snapped. Considering he's the level-headed one and is almost always calm, it would probably be very bad. I wrote a blurb where he snaps and starts beating Yami Marik with his cane (and I swear it's darker than that description seems to make it sound, lol. I mean, a cane can be a dangerous weapon). Yami Marik is taunting him and brings up all the things the others have endured in these fics and says that maybe he'll hurt them some more. That's when Gansley snaps. Crump finally stops him, worried about him and not Yami Marik, and he and the others try to comfort him.

And I was also thinking, oddly enough, canon redeemed the Big Five years before I ever had the thought of trying. Okay, game canon, not anime canon, but still an official canon. Reshef of Destruction does feature them having apparently crawled back to Seto and he has them working as an acting troupe, putting on shows for kids as their Duel Monster Deckmaster characters. I had thought those people were just random actors, but considering that Crump is specifically identified in the script bothering Tea at one point, it's definitely them. (He's not named and he's still in costume, but from what he says, it's absolutely him. He wants to build Penguin Land and goes on about penguins and numbers.) Even though the animators were too lazy to give them proper human form sprites. It's kind of adorable at the end; Crystal showed me this scene where the kids are all scared about the worldwide danger and Roland is insisting that the Big Five help him calm them down and inspire them, and they get fired up and agree, lol. Aww. So apparently whoever made that game felt that they weren't beyond redemption. I had thought only Lector was really deserving of it, but I like the idea that they all are. One thing that is certainly true is that they haven't committed worse sins than some of the characters who did get redeemed, like Marik and Mai and the bikers and Dartz. I love how one of YGO's main themes is clearly redemption and another is forgiveness. It fits in perfectly with the kinds of stories I love to write.

Of course, one problem I ran into is that I made some of them do things arguably worse than in canon during Static Code Analysis, and had I known I was going to end up falling in love with them and wanting to redeem them, I might not have done some of those things, especially since they didn't go that far in canon. (One could technically argue that Gansley wasn't trying to kill Mokuba, since it was virtual reality and not real; he knew Mokuba would still exist. It was still horrible, though. And we don't know what Nesbitt was going to do with Mokuba in season 3. He definitely went after Seto with kendo, but what with virtual reality it's hard to say what he was going to do.) But Mokuba comments on Marik being able to find redemption even after the abominable things he was trying to do to innocent people, so I'm trying to work with that concept and figure that they, even Nesbitt, can still be redeemed in my verse.

Other interesting things of note: Pegasus came to the Big Five on his own in the original and made them feel like aligning with him was the only way to save KaibaCorp. They planned to dismiss Seto from his position, not to hurt or kill him. Of course, then we have the sticky problem of the game. In the original, they make it, and seemingly without anyone's knowledge, so they were planning it for some time and perhaps intended on trapping Seto in it before Duelist Kingdom happened. In the dub, Seto made it, and it is possible that they panicked and rewrote the ending only after Duelist Kingdom, once they knew Pegasus had lost to Yugi. Since I combine dub and sub and kind of like Seto making the game, I might go with the latter.

I was pondering the other day on who did what with the game in the original. Nesbitt animated it, no doubt. Maybe Crump did character designs. I wonder which one of them mocked Mokuba by making Adina look like him.

Can't recall if I mentioned it, but I think the plushie bases I have are going to be used for other purposes yet again, lol. Of course, I would end up feeling like I wanted Lector to have his friends. The smaller-framed plushie can be Nesbitt and the stockier one can be Gansley. I'll have to go back for more plushies to make Crump and Johnson. I'll need another material for Crump's hair too. Right now I have materials at home to make Gansley and Nesbitt, especially after picking up some fabric last week. Haven't had a chance to work on them yet. I'll probably make them concurrently, like I did with Ginger and Lou.

I did get a picture finished: http://meromeroyui.deviantart.com

So I just saw a Tweet KB Toys made several months ago saying "We were always better than Toys R Us anyway." Boo! Never! **hugs Toys R Us.**

I did get to see Geoffrey's Toy Box, and I'm over the moon to have seen any piece of Toys R Us existing! I took pictures of the logo. I did see some stuff I would like, and some other stuff that was sold-out that I'd like to see too, such as a telescope. Mine has always worked funny. Maybe one by a Toys R Us brand would work better. I'm hoping they'll restock, or that another branch will have the out-of-stock stuff.

I also bought a Wreck-It Ralph plushie at The Disney Store. I wanted him when I saw him on my prior shopping trip, but I thought I'd see if I could find a bigger plushie for the same price somewhere else. I couldn't, and when I returned to Disney, that one looked pretty big to me. And he even has real clothes, not just clothes-shaped fabric pieces sewn on! All the attention to detail made me feel the price was worth it (he was $20). So, I got him. It's been fun cuddling with him, although it's not so easy when laying down. My plushies made with the blank plushie bases seem to be ideal for cuddling while laying down, amusingly enough.

I'm having a lot of trouble with the DVD player on the desktop computer. Things pixelate, my Odd Couple discs will rarely play right, and I often have to restart to play more than one disc of anything. I either want to buy a DVD player for my TV or get an external CD drive for my laptop. I'd prefer the latter. Except now I'm wondering if buying one that's around $18 would give me the same trouble as if I tried buying a regular DVD player for that price. I'd be looking at horrible quality if I did that. But if I have to pay $40 for a decent external drive, I'd rather pay $35 for a regular DVD player like the one we have in the living room now.

Duel Links is finally giving us another unlockable DM character, Tristan! He's unlocked if you beat Zorc in this latest incarnation of the Monster World RPG. Manga Yami Bakura has trapped Tristan's soul in a game piece. Free him and you can play as him in the regular Duel Links game! I'm at Area 12 and he's unlockable after passing Area 20. And since I play as Yami Bakura, it makes for an odd situation and reminds me of the plunnie of Manga Yami Bakura getting loose in my anime verse and causing trouble. I consider that in Duel Links, I play my post-series anime verse Yami Bakura, so he's traveling with Tristan while the Manga Yami Bakura is presiding over their torment. I may have to write a blurb, although I think in it, Tristan's soul isn't trapped, but he and Yami Bakura are simply trapped in a life-size Monster World game.

Meanwhile, my current YGO fic has taken various odd twists and turns. The Big Four got back to their bodies thanks to Yami Marik, they've decided they don't want anything to happen to Lector, and Khu is free now as well and wants to kill Lector for possessing him to keep him from killing Mokuba. Of course, this will lead up to hurt/comfort and angsty situations in the climax, with the Big Four trying to protect Lector and all being caught in a blast from Khu's staff. This Khu is more of a loose cannon than the old timeline Khu, but he's still very cunning, cruel, and sadistic. Of course, now that we know P. Seto is a good guy, unlike years ago, Khu has taken on the desire for power while P. Seto is the rational brother. And since they're half-brothers in this verse, Khu's motivation is fury at Ahknadin for deserting his mother and for focusing on P. Seto when Khu wanted power and P. Seto didn't. Khu now wants to prove himself a worthy son to Ahknadin, which will creep the Big Five out when they realize. Deja vu much?

I've rewatched the Big Five episodes so much for fic research, by now I'm really figuring out the various intricacies of the characters. I also watched most of the Lector and Seto duel in Japanese and decided I prefer Lector in the dub. He's angry at Seto's apparent heartlessness in both versions, but he's more emotional in the dub and more devoted to justice. The Japanese version is rather coldly businesslike for the most part. I also had more of a sense that Lector might care about Mokuba in the dub. I also prefer the Seto duel over the Merger duel. If Lector was interested in justice to begin with, I think losing to Seto made him snap, as he seems much more concerned with just getting out of the VR world any way he can after he loses to Seto. He's much more interesting in the Seto duel.

I definitely like how they all seem to be trying to find ways to all get out, instead of being "every man for himself!" They did squabble over bodies in one episode, and yet they all figured they'd each have one. It's kind of refreshing to see antagonists who aren't trying to backstab each other any time they can. I've been noticing how well they work as a team and how they really only have little spats that aren't serious and are likely quickly forgotten. Of course, that makes me want to think they could really care about each other. I was already exploring that concept in the second fic of this trilogy, where they're all shaken by Khu trapping Lector in the darkness once it looks like Lector's been killed and assimilated into it. Them still being shaken over that is partly why they're so determined to protect Lector from Khu in this fic. They know that they do care about Lector, even though now Lector is tired of revenge schemes and wants to try doing something else. I'm planning that they will all decide to try to move on eventually, and they will stay together and embark on a new venture together (maybe making Crump's wildlife preserve/penguin theme park). After sharing so much together, they realize they all want to keep being together. Crump especially considers them his family, since he came from a very dysfunctional family and was introduced to very different interactions when he met the rest of the Big Five.

I also wanted to work with a random angsty blurb where Mokuba and Lector are caught in an explosion and Mokuba wakes up to find Lector seems to be dead. Mokuba is badly shaken, especially since Lector was trying to protect him. Mokuba tries to revive him but cannot. Seto finds Mokuba later and tries to comfort him. Then it decided it wanted to be a fic and not just a blurb and that I should show how the Big Four react to this. Nesbitt impulsively runs off seeking revenge on whoever set the explosion. Of course, Lector will be okay, but probably not before a lot of chaos happens. I won't be focusing a lot on writing this until my multi-chapter is done, and maybe I won't even have the courage to post it if or when it's done, like I'm still having trouble deciding to post that fic about Yami Bakura being swallowed up by the darkness.

I remember I used to occasionally encounter people (usually kids) who liked Lector. I think my reaction to any member of the Big Five being liked was approximately "..." But of course, it figures that eventually I would be sucked in too, since Lector is one intriguing antagonist during his duel with Seto. I am always fascinated by antagonists who seem to be seeking justice for some real or imagined wrongdoing.

I also decided to try making a Lector plush to see if I could do it. I had two plushie bases here, although they were earmarked for other characters. I can replace one easy enough, and considering I had fabric markers to color a plushie tan, plus I had left-over brown fake fur from my Baxter plush that looked like it would be just enough for the hair, I wanted to jump right in and see what would happen. Well, it's been interesting. Especially constructing the hair in the back, as I had to use many little scraps to fill in places. But I don't think it looks too bad, and tonight I got material for clothes. Instead of a business suit, I wanted to make that awesome trenchcoat he wears at the beginning of the Seto duel (or something approximating it, more likely), and I decided that under it he's wearing black pants and a black shirt. I plan to make the fedora too, but Walmart was out of purple felt tonight (and most other colors). WTH.

(I think I'd better always have at least one plushie base on hand from now on, and maybe certain supplies that could be used for multiple characters, like the brown fabric markers and certain hair materials, so I can start plushie projects any time I feel like it. I really want to make pretty much every YGO character eventually. I think right now, plushie-making is my second favorite creative expression, right behind writing.)

I want to draw a picture of Lector standing under a lamppost in the trenchcoat and fedora too. Haven't got to that yet. Maybe I'll try it after I post this.

Seriously, this is not something I planned on happening. I suppose that's the case for any sudden obsession, though. I wouldn't actually say I'm crushing on Lector, but he fascinates me enough to do all this, and from past experience I know it's very likely I could end up crushing on him.

Mama Mia....

Whew, the FF.net admins finally patched the virus problem!

And I am so chuffed and hopeful that Toys R Us will be coming back! I really really hope this Geoffrey's Toy Box thing will work so they may be able to expand back to their big stores. I seriously doubt the lenders planned all of this from the start, as that would be idiotic to let the store go bankrupt just to try to make money on risky ventures like this. Frankly, I do think they're idiots in another way, as they didn't realize the value of the store until it was almost too late yet they greedily wanted a ton of money for the Geoffrey character and such. I hope they can get the store rolling again. I've been eagerly trying to find out who they're partnering with. Some Midwest-headquartered store, so people think Meijer. I hope ShopKo, because it's Midwest, but it's also West. Maybe it's both; it indicated they were looking for more than one store to try this out.

For days Mom and I have been wanting to put up our old Halloween decorations, the cute black cat cut-outs and such. We only finally got to do it Friday night. I'm really happy we did, but I wish a time had opened up sooner. That feeling of childhood rushed back so strongly once they were up, especially that year I was nuts about the Beetlejuice cartoon and it was such a fun autumn. I did finally go over the episode guide again and discovered most episodes were Maybe and some were Yes; only about nine or ten were absolute No. That's not too bad, but I still don't know if I'll get the set. The heavy nostalgia sure makes it tempting, though. And I've never seen the movie. Part of me would like to finally do that, but I'm always leery wondering exactly what I might run into, especially with that sick cover picture. I never handle that sort of thing well....

Cosplay-wise, I never have been able to get the hair on my wig to stand up, and I had to make a cardboard Millennium Ring, but I did get gold foil for it and I think it came out pretty well. There's a picture of it on my figure box that's in scale and I traced it, then spent 45 minutes cutting it out of heavy cardboard. It probably took another hour covering it with the gold foil. And I needed a new wig that looked more correct style-wise, and when I got it, it was pretty much perfect (except, of course, that no hair stands up, lol). Everything was done just in time for the Halloween party, and I hope Halloween will go well too. I have a preview picture on dA, although I took it before I had the Ring done. I'll definitely take pictures with it on Halloween. http://meromeroyui.deviantart.com

I loved my Nancy Drew game. It looks like there was a fraud going on, although it was never expressly stated, and Nancy tried to think that the other ghost sightings were hallucinations from carbon monoxide poisoning that was going on in the house. But I don't buy it, especially since some people saw the ghost who were never in the house. So I will happily believe there was a ghost.

I also bought more Nancy Drew games. There's an Egyptian one I just had to have, and a haunted castle one. Those came on double bills with other creepy ones. The Egyptian one also has one about a monster in Bavaria, and the castle one comes with a New Orleans one about a crystal skull. I'm playing the Egyptian one now and adore it, but if it wasn't that the games take up so much memory, I would be sorely tempted to install another one and alternate playing them, since they all sound so fun. I should do that on the hall computer; it has much more space and could probably easily hold several games.

I had a Wal-Mart gift card and they actually got in more My Little Pony movie figures, so this past Monday I got the set with Capper and Rarity, because I love Capper in the movie and wanted the figure. And there was one Songbird Serenade figure amid a sea of new brushables, so I decided I'd better snap her up since I wanted her too. I was a little unprepared for the darkness of the movie when I first saw it, but on repeated watchings, I enjoy it a lot more. And I want the soundtrack.

I found a tablet. Near the beginning of the month QVC was doing a promotional sale on Amazon's new Fire tablet, and I was able to get a 16GB in blue for $59.99, just ten dollars more than an 8GB! I'm paying in the Easy Pay installments. I'm not to where I actually need it yet, but I really felt I should have it on hand for when I do, since when I do need it there might not be a sale. Meanwhile, it's great for YouTubing. I'm almost always charging a tablet now that there are three, lol. All used for different things, too.

I got a Target gift card and tried for days to figure out how to arrange an order to get the Kris doll on their website. But it wasn't easy, since the website doesn't have as much stuff as the stores. (Seriously, they don't even have the G1 Ponies! They do have a playset that has a Pony, but now it looks like I can't order that with Standard shipping. WTH.) Finally I decided, after learning that the sculpt may not be as good as I'd thought, that I'd wait on Kris, buy her in-store, and use my gift card to buy more Ponies. I did that on Tuesday and don't regret it, but I also discovered that they've taken away the Mego figure display, so now I wonder if they'll never put Kris in-store at all and I'm back to trying to figure out how to get her off the site. I don't want to buy her by herself; that would cost about $7 in shipping and handling fees! And my Red Card is messed-up. I don't know why they invalidated it; maybe because it was around when that data breach happened five years ago. I was supposed to get sent a new one, but I don't know that I ever was, and I tried to get them to see about it in-store once, but the cashier didn't want to. And I had thought the Red Card was just a rewards card, but now I learn that it's a debit (or credit) card with access to my bank account, and after the breach I'm leery of something from Target having access to my bank account, so I don't know whether I want to even try to renew my Red Card. If I did, though, I could get free shipping and buy Kris by herself, which is what I really wish I could do. There's just not much else I want on their website, although I would like The Monkees' Christmas CD since the Target version has extra tracks. But that plus Kris wouldn't add up to the free shipping minimum. And I'm really hesitant to spend as much as I need for that unless I have a gift card to cover some of it. I could scrounge up some other things on the site, like some Nancy Drew books. They have a few of the yellow old ones. I think I might be able to get another Target card soon.

When I got the Ponies, I also got some other things, mainly the gold foil and plushie crafting supplies. I still want to make David, and I turned the plushie I got on my birthday into Tea, and then I had the wild idea that I wanted to try to make Yami Bakura in Thief King form. Totally unnecessary, since I have that little one I commissioned years ago, but it sounded like such a fun challenge that I badly wanted to try. I'm working on him now and he's coming along pretty well. I've also been thinking of making Alister so I can make a Valon and a Raphael in scale to be with him. Although I'd be sad for my little commissioned Alister that he wouldn't have the others, heh. I may make the Ishtars too, although I'd run into the same problem of being sad for my commissioned Marik. I've thought of making Tristan too, and figuring I'd probably have to stuff the pointy part of his hair. I wonder how many cotton balls that would take.

That was a bizarre shopping experience, as the gear shift fell apart while running Dad's errands. Ugh. Rather, the button you push in fell out and then Dad couldn't push the thing inside the handle in enough and we were stuck in Park while he called places and no one knew anything (of course). Finally he had the idea to push a pen in there and he got the thing pushed in enough with that to get the car out of Park and into Drive and we were able to finish the shopping trip (mostly). I opted not to try going to the mall, as I was happy with everything I found and I was worried to get home.

I got my YGO fic finished (although I still need to proofread and print it), and I've been doing that Wild Wild West fic based on my dream. It won't be very long, but it's a lot of fun to work with. I love writing for Snakes especially. I also need to finish a YGO fic I was doing where Yami Marik mind-controls Tristan for jollies and has him nearly kill Yami Bakura. Tristan is devastated, gah. And there's that fic where Yami Bakura is fading into the darkness but is saved. It's mostly done, if not all done, but I keep waffling on posting that one.

Been nostalgic today, remembering a shopping trip from nine years ago. I was looking for Ninja Turtles and Sonic merchandise. Maybe other stuff too, but that's mostly what I remember. I went to Big Lots, Rite Aid, Toys R Us, and maybe F.Y.E.

At Rite Aid I saw a Turtles plush, but it was made out of a really annoying non-furry and non-smooth material that catches fingernails. And it was of Michelangelo, who at that time I didn't like. He annoyed the heck out of me in the 2003 series, which was my main focus at that time. But he'd always kind of annoyed me; I remember thinking he was an idiot in the one Archie Comic I had. I wish I'd been able to see some of the other Archie Comics they did for the Turtles, because I've since learned that Michelangelo really had some powerful storylines! I think it was only a couple of years ago when I really began appreciating Michelangelo, both because of how he began developing in my fic verse and because of the long conversations I had with ThickerThanLove, a devoted Michelangelo fan. Hilariously, he's now my second favorite Turtle in the 87 verse. Haven't revisited the 2003 series much, so I'm not as sure how he stacks up there now, but I did rewatch my DVDs of the first few episodes a couple of years ago and only found him super annoying in the first one. I'm glad I didn't get that plush, though. I've found much nicer Turtles plushies of all of them.

At Big Lots I saw the game made for the TMNT movie. I seriously considered getting it; it looked like a blast. But from the system requirements, it looked like it would probably only work on Dad's computer, and I didn't think he'd appreciate that much. And I wasn't crazy about the thought of being downstairs to play it, either. At this house my computers have been upstairs, and I like that much better.

At Toys R Us I found a DVD of Sonic Underground with all four Knuckles episodes gathered together. Those were the only episodes of Underground I really wanted, so I was thrilled and bought it. That ended up being my only purchase of the trip, although I may have seen some other things I liked. Those are the memories that stand out the most for me.

I've been in a bit of a Sonic mood tonight. I meant to install Sonic R and Sonic Heroes on the computer in the hall, but I haven't got around to it yet. I switched the computer that was first in the hall with one that was downstairs that has more memory. I want to use it as a gaming computer. But I've only played Duel Links for my gaming sessions since I finally got to have it, so all other gaming projects have been on hold.

I've also thought a lot about Toys R Us. Of course, how could I not? I haven't been able to fully accept that the U.S. stores are now gone. Part of that may be because I didn't see it at the last. I was last there when I bought Sailor Mars, and they still had a lot of stuff. Maybe in the future I'll regret not seeing them at the last, but right now I'm fine with it. It makes it easier to remember it as it was. But it also helps to know that the store lives on in Canada and overseas. Even though I'll likely never visit any of those locations, it's just comforting to know they're there. The brand isn't dead, like my beloved Borders is.

The brand has certainly changed, though. It's been years since the days when I could almost always find something there I wanted to buy. The last several times, even before the liquidation, I wanted desperately to help give them business and I just couldn't find the things I wanted. I think the last thing I bought there before the liquidation was the Baxter figure I turned into Barney, and that was in February 2017. I did see Miraculous Ladybug stuff I wanted, and I remember wanting to get in on a BOGO half-off sale on dolls, but there was only one Marionette doll and nothing else I could combine her with. Now the dolls and figures aren't anywhere to be found except online, and usually for bad prices. But after hearing how the dolls often fall apart, I am horrified and think maybe it's for the best. But seriously, WTH Bandai? You're a big name brand. Where's your quality control?

There are so many happy memories of Toys R Us through the years, starting from around age 5, when my brother discovered it after my beloved Play World went out of business. I was skeptical that any store could be as good as Play World, and I think I was initially lukewarm to Toys R Us, but it didn't take long and I warmed up to them and loved them. It was my favorite place aside from home. I was always asking to go there, especially if we were out doing other errands. I remember one time Dad needed to talk to some guy about I think a computer problem, and the guy was really nice and let me play these fun arcade games he had set up while I waited. Afterwards, I asked to go to Toys R Us and we went to the one East of us.

They were there through all of my Sonic love up to now. I remember when Sonic and Knuckles was going to come out and they had a banner with the logo and my eight-year-old self overdramatically proclaimed it "Beautiful!" Heh. Then when the game really came out, it was on display and I got to play it a bit. The Loop-De-Loops baffled me. Later, I also played a little of Sonic Adventure 2 Battle there. Probably other Sonic games through the years too, but that's what I remember most. And the Tiger Electronics handheld games. I have two of them and always meant to get the other Sonic one, but never did.

All of my Talespin and Darkwing Duck figures came from there, and my Donatello figure. A lot of my childhood Ponies, too. I remember how proud I was to take my carefully saved money and buy a Magic Meadow Pony when they came out following the demise of G1 My Little Ponies in America.

Of course I went through a period where I mostly wasn't interested in visiting Toys R Us. After I discovered Yu-Gi-Oh!, that all changed. I went there so much again after that. We used to get milk from a dairy because Dad was obsessed with natural products without lots of added chemicals, and I was fine with that. We got to get ice cream cones from the dairy and then go to one of the Toys R Uses on the way back. I loved all the Toys R Uses, but for YGO visits I probably got the most sentimental about that one. We went there every couple of weeks when we needed milk. So many happy memories of those trips....

(And I hardly ever use makeup. Example: I bought two tubes of lipstick around then, when I was 16, and ... I still have some left. Occasionally I still use it. The smell will forever remind me of YGO and those shopping trips.)

I remember visiting a Toys R Us shortly after I first discovered YGO. We'd been to a wedding reception and were coming back and I stopped there and was looking in a magazine. Then we hurried on home so I could watch and record YGO that afternoon, LOL. It was one of the Seto vs. Yugi trilogy from season 1. I think it was part 1, and yet another part of me thinks it was part 3.

I remember calling them asking about YGO figures, and then going and seeing them. Just the small ones then, but I was happy for any. When the big ones came out, I was over the moon. I ordered Seto online, not sure when the stores would get them, and then he arrived on August 1st. We were going out later that day, visited the standard YGO Toys R Us, and I found the figures were out. Heh. Of course. So I bought Yami Yugi that same day. (That winter I found Joey at Walmart and asked for him as a New Year's present. About a year later, after five months of searching, I found the big Marik figure at ShopKo. I wish they'd made more human characters, in both figure sizes.... I don't know why Yami Bakura wasn't made, for instance, since he has always been a very popular character. Now there's a gorgeous figure of him, but it's far too expensive.)

My 16th birthday I usually cite as my happiest one, although I've had many happy ones. That one was my first after getting interested in YGO. I got the board game among my presents, which thrilled me, and on the shopping spree that year I bought my first two YGO shirts, which I'd previously selected as things I wanted to buy. One was gray with Seto and Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, the other was electric blue with Yami Yugi. Most future YGO shirts came from Walmart (with the exception of my first Marik shirt, bought at Target), but those first two were from Toys R Us. Although I think one was at Kids R Us, so we must have been at the Toys R Us where I recently bought Sailor Mars, as it was the one with a Kids R Us next-door.

Many years ago I started a tradition of wanting to go to Toys R Us on my birthday. I think my 8th birthday was the first year that was done. Later the plan expanded to include other stores. A couple of years I didn't make it to Toys R Us in favor of other stores that had more of what I wanted.

I think the last point in time when Toys R Us had many things I wanted was around 2009, when I was having fun with Sonic stuff. Figures, clothes, fun memorabilia. . . . Then Sonic Boom came along a few years later and pretty much all merchandise was Boom. I still haven't tried Boom; I detest what they did to Knuckles' personality. The changed design was bad enough, but I could have dealt with that if they hadn't ruined his personality. Finally the ban on other merchandise lifted, but I don't recall seeing any Sonic stuff at Toys R Us other than Boom, except the recent classic Sonic plush and maybe one or two other classic design items. Last year on my birthday trip, I was very sad that I couldn't find any Sonic stuff there at all.

There were other fun times.... One year I had a very Mario birthday. At Toys R Us I bought the Mario backpack plush for $14.99 and a shirt on clearance for $2! And I got a free Mario scarf because they were running a promotion of getting a free scarf with purchase of Nintendo stuff. I felt a little guilty at first to be buying Mario instead of Sonic, even though I'd always loved Mario too. I quickly got over such silly feelings, especially since having a Mario plush was always a dream of mine!

And now I'd probably better close this topic, as I'm starting to get sad really thinking that those times are over and there won't be any more unless that businessman saves the U.S. stores. I'm not even sure if he's still trying, but he said he'd even be willing to get the empty buildings just to save the store. That was some months ago, though.

I did, however, finally decide after days of deliberating, what I wanted most to buy with some of my video conference money. Of course, in the end, what I wanted most was a lot of YGO Hexors that included the Yami Bakura one and a lot of pins that had the Yami Bakura one. Both were a little more than I wanted to pay, especially for the pins, but they really were an amazing price. And at the moment I could afford it, so I decided to do it. No regrets! I am so thrilled to finally have those things that I looked so hard for years ago. I bought as many boxes of Hexors as I could, trying to find the Yami Bakura one, and I went to so many 7-11s looking for the Yami Bakura pin. I'm really happy to have the Mai pin too. It's really nice and I've always liked her since she started to develop around episode 11. I thought the Seto pin was the same one I had, but it's not. The pose is the same, but it's a totally different pin, much sturdier and more collector's quality. Then the Joey pin is neat, and even though I'm not a Pegasus fan aside from scenes of him being awesomely helpful in the movie or setting the souls free because he's a man of his word, I do like his pin. I think I have every pin in the set except Yami Yugi, and I'm hoping to get him to complete it. At the moment, though, just so thrilled to have the Yami Bakura merchandise.

I also decided to make a Bakura plush. I have my cute little one, and so of course I felt guilty to bring in a second one, but that first, commissioned Bakura is in scale with my commissioned Yami Bakura in Thief King form but not with the Yami Bakura I recently made. I thought it was sad for him to not have a Bakura too. So, I made one. Everything went so well! I made most of the plushie on the 4th, and then I did the shirt this weekend. Not sure if I'll make the sweater. If I do, I'll change the design and have it open so the pretty turquoise shirt will still be visible. http://meromeroyui.deviantart.com

So this past day was real fun. **sarcasm.** I wanted to play Duel Links so badly that I fought for hours to get Steam to work so I could play the PC version. Steam never cooperated. I don't know whether something messed up in the download or if there were just too many people signed in at once, but I had a horrible time connecting to the servers to even just sign in, and then whenever I got in, I couldn't get it to connect to the servers to start a download of Duel Links. **headdesk.** I tried switching my download region several times, I made sure Avast and Windows Firewall weren't blocking anything, I tried again after booting the computer up fresh later in the day ... all to no avail. Finally I uninstalled out of disgust. I don't know whether to bother reinstalling and seeing whether I had a faulty installation the first time. Even if I get it to work right, there's no guarantee the game will work. Technically, it says it will only run starting on the next OS up from mine. But Steam itself said it will run on my OS, so that's why I tried installing it. I thought the game would probably play through the Steam app and therefore might possibly work. But I didn't even get the chance to try and see if it would. We do have computers in the house that run on Windows 10 instead, but those are Dad's computers and I'd rather have the game on a computer that's mine. But don't think I haven't been tempted to try anyway. UGH.

(I have wondered if the thing's inability to download the game has anything to do with the fact that for some bizarre reason, the computer switched to not allowing me to download updates from inside programs several months ago. I have to remember to go to the Flash website and download the full version of the update every time there is one, instead of just being able to click the little gray box when it pops up, like I used to. I have no idea what happened. I didn't change my antivirus or firewall programs around that time. Heh, I can't even update from within my antivirus program, so it would be hilariously ironic if it's the culprit. I think I tried disabling it and the problem still happened, though. But regardless, even if that's why it couldn't connect to the servers to get the game, that wouldn't explain why it also couldn't connect to the servers to sign in in the first place!)

Then I went back to the idea of maybe getting the $30 Smartphone from Walmart that Dad has and see if I could play the game on that. I've been considering the Smartphone for a while for several reasons, but right now, wanting the game so badly is the main one. It would be like buying a portable gaming system, heh. I don't need a Smartphone, since I have a working phone and my precious tablet, but the tablet can't play the game. Anyway, so I wanted to make sure the game was compatible with that phone before buying it, so I asked Dad to let me just check something a minute. Unfortunately, he wasn't signed in on his Google account and it wouldn't let me even see something so simple in the Play Store without being signed in. He doesn't really use Google and I figured he wouldn't remember his sign-in info, and he didn't deny that when I pointed it out after he offered to sign in, so I finally gave up and signed in, figuring I could easily sign out after checking. Oh brother, was I wrong. #(&$#(&$ Google wouldn't let me out once I was signed in! There were instructions on how to sign out of the Play Store and they didn't work. It was outrageous! Finally, the only way I could sign out was to sign in on the phone's browser and delete the phone from the recent devices on my account. UGH! I hate Google. Problem is, they operate several things I really like, from YouTube to Blogger to Google Sites. And my tablet has an Android OS. I can't get away from Google. And the game is compatible with the phone, so I seriously want it now. It doesn't look like anything else will work for me to be able to play it.

Then there's my longing of merchandise.... I still can't find the Yami Bakura Hexor or get the pin the rare times I see it, but I turned up a seller on eBay who has the Seto and Yami Bakura magnets, as well as magnets of other characters. There's enough of them to make me feel like the price is worth it. There are even doubles of some of them, so I might be able to do some gifting with the extras. And the price has just lowered! I think I'm the only one interested, so even though it's been turned into an auction instead of a Buy It Now, I'm hoping I can snag it. But I really shouldn't get both it and the phone right now, so now I'm stuck in another dilemma. I don't want to miss out on the magnets. I had previously sort of decided I couldn't afford the lot, but then I got a real good look at everything in it when I looked on the laptop. The app just doesn't magnify things as nicely as the website does. Once I really saw everything I'd be getting, I felt the price was worth it.

If only the PC version of Duel Links would work, that would solve everything. I could get the magnets and not worry about the phone right now.

Oh well, I guess at least I can feel relieved that my burning desire isn't to buy that Yami Bakura figure that's over $100. Gah. Making the plushie has soothed that urge. Plushie's certainly more cuddly than the figure anyway. But I love that dynamic pose....

You know what's kind of creepy/weird about the plushie? I noticed that there's a long pinkish-red mark on the left arm, right near where the knife wound was on the show/in the manga. I have no idea how it got there. I didn't put it there. I didn't bleed on the plushie (although I got needle-stabbed several times). And I don't remember it being there when I first got the plushie home (although it must have been). I tried to take a picture of it, but it didn't show up well enough to be worth posting. Seriously, though, that is CREEPY.

Also creepy is that I watched Yami Bakura's duel against Bonz (again) and then the Arkana duel and got this really bizarre and weird plunnie of Yami Marik trapping Bakura as a Duel Monsters character in a duel (maybe other characters too) and then forcing Yami Bakura to play against him, Yami Marik. And eventually during the duel, Yami Marik gets hold of the Ectoplasmer card and wants to extract Bakura's soul and attack Yami Bakura with it. Yami Bakura is horrified and outraged. He tries to prevent that from happening, but fails. Only Bakura manages to fight back himself and instead of attacking Yami Bakura, he protects him and prevents another attack of Yami Marik's from getting through. Eventually Yami Bakura manages to win and Bakura's soul is restored, of course. They're both pretty badly shaken by the experience, although I think it affects Yami Bakura the most. I'll probably write that as a blurb. I doubt it will go into the current fic, although who knows what might happen. I'd kind of prefer it to be a oneshot unto itself, though. I really like having Yami Marik and Yami Bakura as arch-enemies. I really felt rather sad they never had another clash, especially after their intriguing parting words in the manga version of their duel.